Ben WardJanuary 29, 2009. "Early morning meeting with the crew. Nuno and Jim Headroom posing for a picture."

Sometimes, my timing can be pretty bad. Ben Ward, esteemed R&D specialist at OTX Design, kept a detailed photo blog for every day of the year in 2009 on his personal site, PDXBMX. And I was a big fan of it. Every day, Ben shot a new photo, gave an update of where he was at in life and kept it going consistently for 365 days. Some days involved him fixing fences, some were spent packing and moving to Austin, and some even captured Ben and the rest of the OTX team in Taiwan. That all ended on December 31, 2009, and since then, part of my daily Web routine has been sorely missed. Of course, a month after the fact is when I finally realized that I should've interviewed Ben about the project (while the year was still winding down and Ben was in the throes of his final days.) But let's just look at this as a "Better late than never" situation. Here's Ben on his massive undertaking, the year in review, and a project involving a now-legendary Robinson.

Can you introduce yourself please? Name, age, role at OTX, last time you did a crankflip?
Hello, my name is Benjamin Francisco Zamora Ward, I am 32 years old, a product designer, and I am pretty sure I did a crank flip at the Mabel Davis Park the last time I rode there.

OTX Design's Ben Ward. December 5, 2009

I know PDXBMX.com was around for a long time before 2009. Can you explain what purpose it served before it became a photo log of '09?
I know I had some a sort of free "website" around 1996, but www.pdxbmx.com didn't really come to life until about 2000 when Jamie McParland approached me with an idea. Plain and simple, it was a website for the Portland, Oregon BMX scene and a hub for Bicycle Advocacy. It was the place people could come to access all of the documents we had to put together to help bicycles gain access to skate parks. At its peak, post-Blueprint, we had a few thousand members from all over the world.

I know it's February of the new year already and that I should've had this interview done with you in the last week of December '09, but can you please explain your photographic approach to 2009, and how you implemented it?
On new year's night 2009, I walked outside of the bar we were at in Long Beach at Midnight and took one photo. When I uploaded it for the website I called it Happy View Year. It was then I decided to try and document everyday with a photo. No real approach, just try and shoot something people would find interesting. Originally I was just going post the photos on my Flickr account, but I had the site just sitting there, so I started posting. Easy content, haha.

Ben WardJanuary 1, 2009. "This was my Happy View Year #1."

How difficult was it to maintain? Were there ever days where you were like, "Oh crap, I need to take a photo of something even though I don't wanna"?
My record for posts on the pdx site was about two years straight and that involved looking for content. Shooting the photos was already a habit and this seemed easy since I was ideally creating my own original content. I guess the hard part was making sure to take a moment from a fun day or while something interesting was going on to take a snap shot. There were definitely days where the site did not get updated, but the Flickr account was always on schedule. Not sure there really was ever a I don't wanna moment, but several, "Oh dang, I need something for the daily post"!

Ben WardDecember 31, 2009. "So much great stuff happened for me this year. If you have followed this site you have gone through it with me."

Were you psyched when 2010 arrived? And have you gone back over the day-to-day results since the new year started?
Yes and no. The year ended for me so busy, like the final rounds of a title match, one hit after another. Even today I am still getting my bearings and the dust is finally starting to settle. It really has been hard for me to look back on last year. I really could not have written a better year of my life to cover and the words escape me on how to summarize it. I guess that is why the site has just sat there since December 31st. I had plenty of ideas for 2010, but I wasn't able to get myself to pull the trigger on them.

I know you moved to Texas just a few months ago. How has the move gone so far, for both yourself and the R&D division of Odyssey?
Since the day I arrived here I have had this feeling that I may never go back to the North West. Something about Austin is so great. It has everything I love about Portland and then so much more. When I was back in Long Beach over Christmas, friends said they could see how happy I was in my eyes. Even with all of the rain and cold we have had this year, I am stoked we were given the opportunity to come here. I think the locals being so great have been a big part of that as well. The change of pace in the office has been an adjustment, a good one. We are finally finding our groove here now that everyone is settling into the new environment. So yeah, the move has been great.

Can you please tell the story of the Spike Jonze Robinson project? What it took to get going, how much time you've spent on it, and what the significance is?
I guess most of us dudes that have been around for a bit know of the Spike Jonze Robinson from the Abubaca photo in GO. The beginning of last year I started working on finishing my collection of bikes I have owned and ridden. One day my friend Mark Maligmat told me he had the Spike Jonze bike (frame, fork, stem, headset, bars, grips, seat clamp, seat post and Robinson frame pad) in the back of his garage. Eventually I ended up with it after some trading with Mark.

Ben WardMay 7, 2009. "This baby is close."

Step one was restoring the parts I had. They were in really rough shape and ended up cleaning up so nice I actually had to use some NOS (New Old Stock) parts on the bike to make it look proper. Most of the parts I needed for the bike were pretty hard to track down, the cranks and chainwheel being the hardest. Many hours spent on eBay and BMX sites I eventually had everything I needed to get the bike together. That really simplifies what I went through, but I could type for hours on the whole thing.

From talking to friends and things you hear over the years, when Spike showed up essentially riding a race bike in a street contest, it was very unheard of. That stuck with me, like maybe this was the bike that started changing how and what we road. I guess the other obvious connection is the fact that this was one of Spike's bike made famous by a photo of him, which seemed rare since you often found him behind lense and not in front of it. I just thought people deserved to see it and be reminded Spike Jonze was a BMXer indeed. If you ever come out you are more than welcome to take it for a spin.

And finally, anything I'm missing?
I think you covered everything. Thanks for letting me talk about me, haha.

Even though Ben's taking a short break from updates on PDXBMX, you can always check out his constantly evolving BDubbleVision Flickr page.